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The Cloud of Unknowing Book Group
Tuesdays during the Easter season (until 7 May), 20:00 - 21:00 BST, via Zoom
As part of our theme for Lent this year - A Pilgrimage of Prayer - we gathered online each Tuesday evening from 8 pm to 9pm BST to reflect and discuss the great spiritual classic The Cloud of Unknowing.
As these sessions only took us roughly half way through the text, Canon Emma is delighted to welcome you to complete this book in the six weeks following Easter.
Written in the fourteenth century by an unknown Carthusian, The Cloud of Unknowing is a unique and enigmatic masterpiece of medieval English mysticism. Its description of intense contemplation, motivated by love and stripped of all thought, as the way to the Divine still resonates today with those who seek God beyond all knowing and within the silence of our hearts. We will be reading the Penguin Classic version translated by A.C. Spearing and each week we will being focusing on just a few chapters which will take us to the end of the text.
Reserve your space and you will be sent a Zoom link for the event.
The group is free, but any donation you may wish to make to the mission and ministry of the Cathedral will be warmly welcomed.
Each week Canon Emma will begin with a brief introduction followed by discussion and then concluding with prayer.
Week One – 9th April
Tricks and Stratagems: Chapters 28 - 40
Week Two – 16th April
The Life of Prayer: Chapters 41 - 50
Week Three – 23rd April
The Problem of Language: Chapters 51 - 61
Week Four – 30th April
The Faculties of the Soul: Chapters 62 - 68
Week Five – 7th May
Nothing and Nowhere: Chapters 69 - 75
Mid-May we will be beginning a new book, The Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich.
The Cloud of Unknowing
Supporting Resources
The English Mystics - Episode Six: The Cloud of Unknowing
Watch Canon Emma's introduction to The Cloud of Unknowing from her YouTube series 'The English Mystics: Their relevance for us today', which focused on this unique group of devotional writers at the end of the fourteenth century.
Hesperides - The Cloud of Unknowing with Emma Pennington (Podcast)
The Reverend Dr. Emma Pennington introduces The Cloud of Unknowing. This fourteenth century guide to the contemplative life might be more relevant than ever. Does ignorance bring us closer to God? Can Christians meditate? The anonymous author thinks so.
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